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The left-leaning Center for American Progress has published an issue alert outlining ten reasons to oppose the construction of new nuclear power plants in the U.S. The list is a round-up of reasons typically given by those who oppose nuclear (high capital costs, where to store waste, access to foreign uranium stockpiles, safety concerns) and some rather interesting ones: U.S. firms won’t be building any new plants (“Because no new nuclear power plants have been built in the United States in over 30 years, foreign companies have more experience building such plants”). Should Americans not buy Priuses either, because Toyota makes them? Another reason to oppose nuclear subsidies: they “take money away from more effective alternative energy subsidies.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received applications to build fifteen new reactors in eight states. Later this year, existing plants in seven other states plan to seek permits for a dozen more reactors. The first could be built and operating by 2016, according to an AP article.

Meanwhile, at a public meeting for NRC staff (June 19-20 at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Maryland), Energy Department officials are presenting a “walk-through” of the agency's license application for the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Details here.

The article inside even more directly takes on the environmental movement, starting with its title: “Inconvenient Truths: Get Ready to Rethink What It Means to Be Green.” The article outlines a list of ten “inconvenient truths” (a play on the title of Al Gore’s documentary and book, which has also been recently parodied by Iain Murray). The article argues that “winning the war on global warming” -- the paramount goal of today’s environmental movement -- “requires slaughtering some of environmentalism’s sacred cows.” That means greens cannot “afford to ignore...the carbon-free electricity supplied by nuclear energy.”

Although this is Wired’s most blunt statement in favor of the use of civilian nuclear energy, it’s worth noting that a few years ago the magazine also dedicated considerable space to a friendly profile of Patrick Moore, the Greenpeace co-founder who now advocates for nuclear power.